The Guardian – experts campaign to cut sugar

A 330ml Coca cola can is reported to contain nine teaspooons of sugar

Original article by The Guardian

Obesity experts are launching a campaign to put pressure on the government and industry to cut the sugar content of food and drinks by up to 30%. The high-profile scientists and doctors behind Action on Sugar say that gradual cuts in the amount of sugar in ready meals, cereals, sweets and soft drinks will not be noticed by the public, but will result in a reduction in the calories we all consume.

A 20-30% reduction in sugar over time will cut our calorie intake by about 100kcal a day – and more for those who consume a lot of sugar.

That is enough to halt or even reverse the obesity epidemic and reduce the toll of diabetes and other disease, say the doctors, who include Robert Lustig, author of Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth About Sugar, and Professors John Wass, academic vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians, Philip James of the International Association for the Study of Obesity and Sir Nicholas Wald of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine.

Action on Sugar aims to do what a similar campaign launched in the 1990s called Cash (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) successfully did for salt levels in our food. It is chaired by Professor Graham MacGregor, who also heads Cash.

“Provided the sugar reductions are done slowly, people won’t notice,” he said. “In most products in the supermarkets, the salt has come down by between 25% and 40%.”